Sanctification = cooperation part deux

Ok you guys. I had to really think about what I wanted to say. This course with John Bevere is so good... and I am only on the second chapter. I really would recommend the book "A Heart Ablaze" by John Bevere.

At any rate I left you with the thought: Sanctification=Cooperation. Beerhyeann hit on a part of it. It used to be thought that Sanctification was a one step process… which used to bother me because I couldn’t figure out how people could just start living the holy lifestyle and I remained struggling in some areas of my life. I knew they needed to be holy and I wanted them to be but I couldn’t figure out how to get there.

James 2:19
19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that-and shudder. NIV

It really isn’t just about believing; it’s also about obeying. I think that there is something important that we need to grasp as Christians. Bevere talks about how in many of today’s churches we have been led into the error of simply getting people to acknowledge that Jesus exists. It’s true… and in taking that a step further, my thought is that we push the fact that works alone can not get you into Heaven, that you have to believe in Jesus and accept him into your heart... that’s the truth right? Yes it is the truth… works alone can not get you into heaven, somehow though when we learn that you need salvation what happens to the works?

James 2:26
26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. NIV


The FULL truth is this: Jesus takes the first step, and He died for your sins. When you ask Him into your heart you are justified (Just as if I never sinned)… but we all know that life doesn’t stop there. Justification leads to the process of sanctification. When we get saved we get the faith… but then we need to back it up with the deeds. One is simply incomplete without the other. Getting saved is not fire insurance, and neither is doing good deeds in itself without the faith.

Keep in mind that if believing was enough… then wouldn’t that technically mean that demons would return to Heaven? They believe, they know the reality of God and they shudder… what keeps them from heaven, besides the obvious rofl, is that they do not accept (confess) the Lord as their God and their deeds prove their rebellion and hatred of Him. The purpose of your salvation is for you to begin having an intimate relationship with God.

Rom 9:33
33 As it is written:
"Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense,
And whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame." NKJV


God’s Word will be offensive at times because it will confront the way IN you that is contrary to a Holy God. Realistically who likes being corrected? But what is unholy is a spiritual cancer in your life and it needs to be removed before it kills you. Welcoming correction in your life as a believer is what eliminates those spiritually cancerous things in your heart and you life.

Prov 15:10
10 Stern discipline awaits him who leaves the path;
he who hates correction will die. NIV



It talks in Exodus that when the people left Egypt they were instructed to wash their clothing.


Ex 19:10-11
10 And the LORD said to Moses, "Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes 11 and be ready by the third day, because on that day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. NIV

Now you may think that this is silly, but Bevere spots an analogy or metaphor or whatever you want to call it. God is talking about consecrating themselves and sanctifying themselves in preparation for God to be with them. The book says (I love this line) “it’s like God is saying ’I have delivered you out of Egypt (the world and its ungodly ways); now get Egypt out of you!’” I’m sure they had cleaned themselves up before this point… (could you imagine the SMELL!?!?) But they were doing something in the physical... symbolizing what they needed to be doing in the spiritual... which is sanctification.

So essentially what God is saying that God took you out of Egypt and now it is your responsibility to cleanse yourself. You’ve been delivered out of the world ( Salvation = Justification ) , and now you have to get the world out of yourself (Sanctification = Cooperation).